Pop-Up IEP

15. "We don’t feel your child needs braille."

Expose your child and yourself to braille early and often. Picture books with added braille to borrow or buy are available from several sources such as the American Printing House for the Blind (http://www.aph.org) and Benetech’s Bookshare (www.bookshare.org).
Learn more about braille. The more comfortable you are with braille, the more likely you will be able to make decisions about print, braille, or both based upon facts—not emotions or misconceptions.
Work with your state or regional library for the blind and local and school libraries to get copies of print/braille storybooks into their collections.
Contact organizations to see if there is an adult braille reader in your community who can read with and/or tutor your child in braille, demonstrate and talk to your child’s class about braille, or tutor you in braille.
Organize a print/braille storybook hour for a group which includes children who are blind or visually impaired and sighted. Recruit a proficient braille reader to read aloud to the group. Your school’s visual impairment program, organizations of the blind or visually impaired, or the library for the blind or at the school for the blind or visually impaired might be interested in sponsoring this event.
Encourage your child’s siblings and sighted peers to learn about braille.
If you disagree with the IEP, make sure to include a written statement noting your objections. Unless indicated otherwise, signing the IEP indicates attendance, but not necessarily agreement.

Collabortive effort between the
National Center on Severe and Sensory Disabilities
and the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children